Although the two clubs had agreed an £8m fee for a player
now deemed surplus to requirements on Tyneside, Tioté’s wage demands are
understood to have been rather steeper than Shanghai expected.

All seemed to be progressing smoothly when he passed a
medical but a request for an appreciable increase on his current £60,000-a-week
contract has met with resistance.

With Tioté still in Shanghai on Tuesday night, the Chinese
retained faint hopes that a compromise might be reached but it is believed
Tioté would prefer a move to the Middle East and is prepared to return to
Newcastle in the hope that a club in the Gulf might come in for him before the
end of the month.